Islamabad: China’s investment in its ambitious economic corridor project in Pakistan has reached $62 billion, jumping more than 34% from its initial investment of $46 billion, a top Pakistani official said on Wednesday.

Sindh province governor Mohammad Zubair said China’s approved financing for several projects in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has reached $62 billion. He made the remarks at a conference on ‘Infrastructure demand and financing’ jointly organised by credit rating agencies Pacra (Pakistan) and Dagong (China) in Karachi.

“New investment has been approved for projects in various sectors including (establishment of) industrial zones," said Zubair. He said that the government was also in talks with China to place the Karachi Circular Railway project under the CPEC.

CPEC project will link the Pakistani city of Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang via a vast network of highways and railways. The project was launched in 2015 with $46 billion but later the investment increased to $55 billion. It for the first time that a senior official revealed that now Chinese invent under the flagship Belt & Road initiative has reached to $62 billion.

“This ($62 billion investment) is good news. People will bear fruits of the investment," said Zubair. The investment is being made for several power generation projects which will add more than 10,000 MW electricity to the national grid by end of 2018, according to government. China is also building industrial parks and railways and roads to link up its western region through land route to Gwadar port on the mouth to the Arabian Sea.